my name is ernestine weiss, and i'm here to object to any conversions of apartments in the city of san francisco at a time when affordable housing is priority one. what is wrong with you supervisors? you don't get it? people cannot live here. my grandson had to move to canada. he's a teacher. young man, can't afford to live here. in canada, he has health care, he has housing, a reasonable amount, and he's happy there. why should he have to leave the country where he was born in california because of your priorities being backwards? this is unfair to a lot of -- most of the people who rent. i live in a rent controlled building. my landlord is trying to harass me, and i won't put up with it. i mean, it's disgusting and you guys voted to 8 washington behind my house? which is behind my house?

it's ridiculous. how dare you, how dare you cater to the developers instead of to the people. we should learn by obama's election. he got voted because he was for the people. you guys don't get it. when are you going to learn? thank you. (applause) >> next speaker. ♪ i'll be there to shake your house hand and i'll be there to share all your land plans when you make the, the impact make the impact fee city now, city now city now i'll be there to shake your hand and i'll be there to share your impact plan when you can make the impact money fee shake your city hand share the plan share your city hand

share all your city good plans >> thank you. next speaker. michael [speaker not understood] for the san francisco gray panthers and senior disability action. we are completely opposed to any kind of plans which allow more conversion of tics into condos. it's an incredible incentive to [speaker not understood] depictions, speed it up when there is a huge crisis of homelessness among seniors. it's going to increase rents all over the place. it endangers rent control. do not do this. >> thank you. next speaker. gilbert crizwell. i am here from new district 8 and i'm not going to repeat the streets that i represent, but i

stand with the renters of new district 8. and i think this is a banking issue for the tic owners and they should be heard in government audit and oversight committee. the bankers and mortgage lenders that have conned the tic owners, that seem to be a problem and there should be a hearing on that. and i'm against opening up the lottery for more condo conversions. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. you can just hand the card to ms. miller. hi, my name is christin henry. this is my son. and we're here to say we support this legislation. we live in a tic, we have lived in a tic for three years and we pay really high interest rates. it's a 7% interest rate with a prepayment penalty for paying

your mortgage off early so, you can't refinance. i know that when we bought the tic we knew these were the terms and we agreed to them. but there is legislation on the table that would give financial relief to families like me. i've lived in the city 15 years, i work at a nonprofit. having an interest rate -- right now i pay my interest to michigan bank. there are only two banks that give mortgageses to tics that are fractional, one in michigan and one in ohio. the fact we're paying these high interest rates, all of these monies are not being funneled into san francisco, but out of state. a bank in ohio and michigan were the only one that would give a fractional loan. they're getting the extra money. there are ways we could talk about solving the problem, but i support this legislation. >> thank you. are there any additional -- any members of the public who would like to make public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. [gavel] >> president chiu, you have

made a motion to continue this item by two weeks. >> two weeks to i think the 25th of march. >> okay. is that the correct date, 25th of march? great. colleagues, can we take that motion he without objection? that will be the order. [gavel] >> madam clerk, are there -- is there any other business pro forma the committee? >> there are no other matters. >> we are unshed. adjourned. thank you. [ adjourned]

good afternoon and thank you for coming. i'm delighted to announce that our first effort is unleashed upon the world. [ applause ] . it's only been two-and-a-half years since the moment of conception of this idea. it's an amazing tribute to our community. it reached three levels of impossibility, of getting a permit and designing it and putting it on this structure and the impossibility of getting it funded. it really is a tribute to so many and a lot of faces that i'm looking at this room tonight. it comes down to as always people. i'm

going through a few moments here to give a real thanks to people who made this night and the next two years possible. i'm going to list a couple of company names, but i want to think of them as members of our community that made this project possible. that included, bloomberg, guchie, it includes the partners, magazine, california home and design, magazine, aluminum illuminary sponsors and the folks tonight. and, you know that first level of

impossibility. i'm going to list some agency names. it comes down to a lot of people in this room to make it possible. my first phone call in this project was to cal trans. in cal trans working together with the bay area with the mayor's office here in the county of san francisco and coast guard, official wild life, all of these came together to find a way when typically the system is designed to say no, people found a way to say yes to this project. the arts commission, this collusion support from the san franciscmuseum of modern art. i apologize for the folks i will be missing because this is a cast of a thousand that

made this happen. we certainly love our lawyers in this process. morrison who helped it become a very established and professional way in getting the contract involved in getting this project to an amazing legal footing. the technology network in san jose who made this a crucial project. i want to call out a thanks to or tactical team. we know how to make it small, not over 150 feet in the air. we have a studio, zone engineering and i have to say thanks to hmr who has been a rock star and directly one of the reasons this is happening. an extremely

talented project. thank you all. i also want to just take a moment to really acknowledge that while leo and i have done a lot of things m in this world, we would not be able to do it alone. there is only one person responsible for this project and that is executive director of the arts. luminarias. i can go on and on. i think i will throughout the night. do know that she's a special person and this entire community owes her a debt of gratitude. i want to thank leo

and his family for bringing the level of artistic integrity for this work that somehow slipped through the progress of a work of contemporary art parallel in art history. it has everything to do with leo and our interpretations with our discussion and that one minute that transformed how people will be receiving this project and how i can make this happen and lieutenant governor will join us at the ceremony at the bay light.org. i really want to thank our mayor who is a visionary in his own right and common good and who i had the pleasure of working with other projects and he's making this

city better every single day. people should know that mayor embraced this team, this project ma way that had nothing to do with really -- even, it was a matter of passion, a personal desire to see the work of art radiant and shine in our community it was an amazing gift. mayor lee, we owe you a great debt of gratitude. thank you so much. [ applause ] >> thank you. welcome everybody to the building in san francisco. gosh, your vision, i have been living with this vision for almost two years now ever since our city engineer said, come with me to this event and you are going to be

surprised how we can turn infrastructure to a piece of art. i have worked with so many projects with roads and buildings that we oftentimes cannot lift this heavy piece of metal or holes in the ground an construction and not be able to see the work of art that contributes to this city and future. amy, thank you for your incredible leadership on this. i met you first at this event here but was immediately sold on the possibility that we can unleash art in the most creative way. this is in fact a beacon for our arts community, for a world class city and it has the ability to attract some $50 million of contributions to

our economic vitality a huge base of fans that will visit our city. there is going to be 150 million visitors, i think it's going to be $97 million contribution to our committee already scaled by our travel association. so part of it is economics, but i actual, without even having those numbers in front of me knew that this was going to excite us. i actually know that when we unveil this tonight, the feeling that i'm going to be having, is we just won another world series because it's going to bring that kind of excitement into city. and to have this timed in a way in which we have just finished the 75th anniversary of the

celebration of the bay bridge, we have opened the auditorium and on our bay for the first time we have just finished the world series and the 55 sealing on our bay is a celebration for san francisco and this incredible rebounds that this city is experiencing can really only be complimented by the arts, because allows the arts to celebrate all the other things that we are trying to do economically to be covered, i think is an incredible cap on our future on what we can experience and exemplify to the rest of the world. this leaves me to an appreciation to the artist that he has not only visualized what 25,000 led

lights can do but discovered a fashion in which will not see the same pattern at any time experience. this is kind that have innovation that we are experiencing in san francisco that creativeness, that we've always wanted to have from our arts community to us with all the other things that we are doing in struggling everyday and sometimes there are good stories but art has always been an inspiration to me. you can imagine anything you want in these lights. the artist will say that leo has always said it and documented in so many other interviews to give yourself a chance to work with these 25,000 light is. to me it's the mustache. it will be for every

child in us, the ability to celebrate, to see what's good and what we have done here, but i think it will be the beacon for world class to happen here in san francisco. i look forward to -- we talked about this being a 2-year commitment. but we all know with the success this has, we are already and i will predict that people, including myself will want this to be on going certainly during my lifetime. [ applause ] >> so i have every expectation we'll about be right there hand in hand celebrating with you to create even more art in the city. by the way, it's budget time, so tom in the art commission, you have done very well with the opening of this timing with everybody else that we have the proper level of art

to be creative, to bless us with all the things that are so positive and to exemplify the arts community for what it's done. with that, i would like to introduce our artist leo villa real. >> thank you so much. i'm beyond thrilled to be here today. this has been an incredible 2-and-a-half years from the initial idea when ben davis asked me to consider the bridge and how it can be turned into a canvas and having thought about it and created an assimilation on the computer, animation that so many people saw and were inspired to get behind and enabled to happen. so many people to thank, but certainly folks at cal trans

and mayor's office, governors office. there were so many hoops we had to jump through. getting the permit was one of the miracles. i thank you for believing in public art and helping us get this done. amy has been amazing, our executive art director. [ applause ] amy was able to shepherd this impossible project through all the intricacies, i'm in incredibly grateful for her help, grateful for his efforts in another monumental task. he's raised $6 million of our

$8 million. this project is an incredible gift by our pat patrons through the city. this is an incredible piece. you don't have to buy a ticket. it's there and available. a very universal quality, it has some response to it. it's operating on a very primal level. i think we the technical team that put this piece up has been remarkable. zad and zoon has been a lifesaver. incredible individual who has never said no to me. everything is always been possible and bringing the team together to actually install this work. to

make a photo shop simulation and 3d animation project. it was in incredibly inspiring. i went out there on a cloudy day and it was incredible magic that was happening. i knew this was going to be fine if i can channel the interaction of all these systems into my work. so i'm very grateful for everyone who helps install this piece. we had lane closures. everything happened from 5 a.m. there were hundreds of thousands of cars and the contractors installing this 550 feet over the water. incredibly

challenging work but here we are. i would like to thank my team and studio, everyone helping, our lead programmer, transit for helping with all our networking, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes of help that nobody will know about, we have computers, wireless connections, i want to thank timothy child's who helps us invent this custom clip which we used to hang these lights on the bridge. there was a lot of behind-the-scenes that's it's taken to bring this work to a reality. i guess our patrons are also, that's a whole other -- unleashing generosity in the way that we have just really bologna way blown -- away.

incredible innovation at work and thankful to phillips for their equipment and standing behind they are technology and helping us achieve what we have done i guess we are here and ready to punch the button on the computer. we are using a laptop tonight and it's going to go on at 9:00. i'm just incredibly grateful and keep pinching myself that this is happening. i'm incredibly overwhelmed that this is happening and i'm eager to share this work with all of you. thank you.

(music) >> herb theatre,open rehearsal. listen to the rehearsal. i think it is fun for them, they see our work process, our discussions, the decisions we make. it is good for us. we kind of behavior little bit when we have people in the audience. msk (music) >> we are rehearsing for our most expensive tour; plus two concerts here.

we are proud that the growth of the orchestra, and how it is expanded and it is being accepted. my ambition when i came on as music director here -- it was evident we needed absolutely excellent work. also evident to me that i thought everyone should know that. this was my purpose. and after we opened, which was a spectacular opening concert about five weeks after that the economy completely crashed. my plan -- and i'm absolutely dogmatic about my plans --were delayed slightly. i would say that in this very difficult timefor the arts and everyone, especially the arts,

it's phenomenal how new century has grown where many unfortunate organizations have stopped. during this period we got ourselves on national radio presence; we started touring, releasing cds, a dvd. we continue to tour. reputation grows and grows and grows and it has never stopped going forward. msk(music) >> the bay area knows the orchestra. you maybe take things for granted a little bit. that is simply not the case will go on the road. the audiences go crazy. they don't see vitality like this on stage. we are capable of conveying joy when we play. msk(music)

>> any performance that we do, that a program, that will be something on the program that you haven't heard before. string orchestra repertoire is pretty small. i used to be boxed into small repertoire. i kept constantly looking for new repertoire and commissioning new arrangements. if you look at the first of the program you have very early, young vibrant mendelson; fabulous opener and then you have this fabulous concerto written for us in the orchestra. is our gift. msk(music) >> and then you have strauss, extraordinary piece.

the most challenging of all. string orchestra work. 23 solo instrument, no violin section, now viola section; everybody is responsible for their part in this piece. the challenge is something that i felt not only that we could do , absolutely could do, but i wanted to show off. i can't tell you how aware i am of the audience. not only what i hear but their vibes, so strong. i have been doing this for a long time. i kind of make them feel what i want them to feel. there is nobody in that audience or anywhere that is

not going to know that particular song by the fourth note. and that is our encore on tour. by the way. i am proud to play it, we are from san francisco. we are going to play that piece no matter where we are.